Fund watch: Thursday’s notable fund launch was the ProShares S&P 500 Aristocrats ETF (NOBL) — get it? the ticker? — tracking the 50 or so S&P 500 companies that have increased their dividends for at least 25 years straight. The group behind its S&P 500Dividend AristocratsIndex is made up of large-cap heavies like McDonald’s (MCD) and ExxonMobil (XOM) but also Air Products and Chemicals (APD) and Cintas Corp. (CTAS). If this idea sounds familiar, that’s because it is — there are lots of variations already on the market. SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY) tracks S&P Composite 1500 companies with at least 20 years of increases — that index is called the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (VIG), the most popular dividend-themed ETF, follows the NASDAQ US Dividend Achievers Select Index. And so forth. It’s a crowded field, something that was evident even before the firm best known for its leveraged ETFs piled in.

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As exchange-traded funds and other investing vehicles have ballooned in number, the task of figuring out what works well and what doesn’t has only gotten harder. Barrons.com’s Focus on Funds looks under the hood of ETFs, mutual funds and hedge funds for overlooked values, actionable ideas and the latest pitfalls for fund investors.

Chris Dieterich has covered the U.S. stock market for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. He is a graduate of Regis University and the Missouri School of Journalism.